The Magus of Sicily

Paperback / ISBN-13: 9781408719978

Price: £10.99

ON SALE: 2nd April 2026

Genre: Fiction & Related Items / Crime & Mystery

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‘Truly evocative’ Financial Times

‘If this book is not popular with fans of The White Lotus, something is definitely awry . . . [a] sumptuously set mystery’ Daily Mirror

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An island of myth, legend . . . and murder?

As the summer sun beats down on the ancient town of Acitrezza, a folk festival plays out in the picturesque harbour. Music, laughter and the aroma of local delicacies fill the air, and a traditional pantomime draws a crowd.

For rookie journalist Nedda Leonardi, it’s just another day’s reporting in a calendar of unremarkable events. Until that is, the performers dive in the sparkling Ionian Sea for their finale… and emerge with a corpse. Could this be Nedda’s big break?

After one trick too many, Calogero Maugeri, self-styled Magus and con artist, is a wanted man. But his attempts to clean up his act and keep a low profile are thwarted when it’s revealed he has a suspicious connection to the dead man pulled from the sea.

A young reporter keen for a scoop and a reformed swindler desperate to clear his name… can this improbable pair solve the most unusual of murders?

Reviews

A delight
Peterborough Telegraph
The Magus of Sicily invokes Italy's most exquisite island as a setting for myth and murder . . . truly evocative
Financial Times
Praise for Philip Gwynne Jones's other novels:
An irresistible concoction of crime and culture
Daily Mail
I devoured all Philip's novels and felt transported to Venice with a new intimacy
Val McDermid
Sinister and shimmering
L.S. Hilton, bestselling author of Maestra
As delightful as a Spritz by the Rialto - a must for all Italy lovers
David Hewson
'Philip Gwynne Jones is on a winning streak with his Italian mysteries ... there is no let-up in the tension that keeps us rooted to the page'
Daily Mail
A murder mystery drenched in Sicily . . . If this book is not popular with fans of The White Lotus, something is definitely awry . . . [a] sumptuously set mystery
Daily Mirror
Superb - always gripping, beautifully constructed and vivid
Stephen Glover
Clever and great fun
The Times
If you enjoy Italy, either in reality or imagination, you couldn't help but enjoy Jones's books
Morning Star